YORK, Pa. — Wouldn’t be a Pennsylvania Speedweek without the heat to kick off summer. One driver has been nothing but impressive has he continues to be the winningest driver in the country.
It's time to kick the 32nd Annual Pa Speedweek into high gear.
Night one at the historic Williams Grove. Twenty-nine drivers hope to start the long grueling 10-day stretch of racing with a win. The days are hot but the evenings are down right gorgeous to kick up some dirt.
The hottest driver in the pits, Anthony Macri set the quick time at the Grove.
Danny Dietrich will look to defend his speedweek title as he moved from fifth to second in the first heat but trouble will unfold in the feature for Dietrich. TJ Stutts captured the heat win. Lucas Wolfe took the charge from Lance Dewease coming to green to win heat number two. Another driver fresh off a big win is Brent Marks. He won the final night Ohio Speedweek for $20,000. Marks won the third and final heat.
The concrete kid picked the pole position with All-Star driver Justin Peck to his outside. Just three laps in, running in sixth, Dylan Cisney rolled to a stop on the back stretch as his night ended early.
The race stayed green for another 15-laps when fourth place Dietrich slowed up after a crank switch went bad. Back to green, Marks passed Peck for second as Macri couldn’t be touched and wins the first night out.
Macri sighed a little relief when the caution came out with 12left.
“Relief knowing how my car was acting in dirty air. You know, under the caution, I just knew pulling my wing back a little bit more. When I was in clean air, I just started driving harder because I knew we were past halfway at that point. So, I knew I could start to use my equipment up and tires up and luckily it paid off," said Macri.
As drivers and teams rolled in to the second night of Pa Speedweek, race fans and area businesses made the 2nd Annual Speedweek Giveback a huge success. Doesn’t matter if they teams were racing one night or all ten nights, care packages were handed out to every single 410 team in the pits at Lincoln. From shop supplies to snacks.
“Everything from beef jerky to chips, pretzels, Gatorade and water. There was cookies, crackers. A little bit of everything. We have almost everything you can think of and I’d like to do it again," said Donna Gossert, 2022 Speedweek Giveback organizer.
The Greg Hodnett Foundation also gave $50 dollars to each team.
So, wejump right in to the second night of PA Speedweek from Lincoln Speedway.
The track had packed crowd for the Kevin Gobrecht Memorial.
Dietrich started the night with an oil filter popping off as he was coming to green in qualifying. They fixed the problem and he took his final lap as the last qualifier in group A.
The concrete kid from Dillsburg is once again the fastest qualifier.
But, the kid that's due for a win, four weeks of racing and an average finish of 3.5, is Troy Wagaman as he won the first heat. Jeff Halligan held off Dewease to win the second heat.
Marks did what Dietrich did the first night, he moved from fifth to second as Chase Dietz took the heat three and Lucas Wolfe closed out the final heat win.
Before drivers race for $9,200, The Kevin Gobrecht Foundation awarded two $3,000 dollar scholarships to two students local students who are pursing higher education.
As the battle for position goes on behind Marci in the feature, the leaders have to react fast as Zach Hampton went around in three and four.
As they went back to green in the closing laps, Peck stole second away from Freddie Rahmer. Let the heaters hate, Macri dominates the first two nights of Pa Speedweek.
It's pretty amazing to see how far this team has come in the last two seasons.
“Jim and I’s first speedweek together, we didn't even make either speedweek shows here at Lincoln. So, you know, fast forward two years and we've won the first two nights of speedweek. It's honestly pretty incredible and just really hasn't even sunk in yet that we're having this success that we are and I don't know keep that minimized and not dwell on it too much and realize that you know we have eight more days," said Macri.
But, unfortunately the third night of Pa Speedweek was canceled due to weather. They are back in action Monday at Lincoln Speedway.